Lions triumph despite Morris masterclass

A phenomenal all-round display from Chris Morris was not enough to stop Delhi Daredevils falling to a single-run defeat against Gujarat Lions in a sensational match at Feroz Shah Kotla in the Indian Premier League.

Dwayne Smith (53) and Brendon McCullum (60) mounted an electric start for the Lions with a 112-run stand in 10.4 overs, but South Africa international duo Morris (2-35) and Imran Tahir (3-24) restricted them to 172-6.

Victory looked a distant hope for the Daredevils until Morris turned around a sluggish innings with an unbeaten 82 off just 32 deliveries, but the death bowling of Praveen Kumar (0-13) and Dwayne Bravo (1-40) ensured the Delhi side came up short in an enthralling close.

The Lions' openers came out in force with Smith hitting 18 off the first over and his partnership with McCullum was worth 50 off just 3.5 overs - the quickest to reach that mark in this season's IPL.

Their powerful start was brought to an end when Tahir trapped Smith leg before and Morris followed up with the scalps of McCullum and Suresh Raina (2) in the 12th over.

Tahir accounted for Dinesh Karthik (19) and Ishan Kishan (2) but James Faulkner helped set a target of 173 by knocking an unbeaten 22 off 13.

However, Delhi's response was a weak one, losing Quinton de Kock (5) Sanju Samson (1) and Karun Nair (9) to Dhawal Kulkarni (3-19) as they put on just 18 runs in the first five overs.

JP Duminy (48) kept the Daredevils ticking over, but it was the efforts of Morris that put them within reach of a what seemed an unlikely victory.

The all-rounder hit a 17-ball fifty, surpassing the mark in the midst of a trio of successive maximums, to help put Delhi 18 runs from an astonishing turnaround with 12 balls remaining.

Karthik fumbled the chance to stump Morris on the penultimate ball, but the South African could not find the boundary required to triumph off the final delivery.

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